


speaking my lesson from the brain

by chancellorxofxtrash



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Damsel in Distress Yusaku, Diverging during Season 2, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Monster Ai | Ignis, Monster Kissing, Multi, some other characters cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23452369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: A callous comment sends Haru on a mission to prove himself and he actually manages to kidnap Playmaker - but without Ai. So now Revolver and Ai have to team up to save him, obviously.Neither of them expect this teaming up to last long, especially when they manage to save Yusaku, but maybe, just maybe, all of them have a lot to learn.
Relationships: Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku, Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Ai | Ignis/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Fujiki Yuusaku/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken
Comments: 20
Kudos: 45





	speaking my lesson from the brain

_“You don’t need to do anything. You won’t have an important role. Just keep guard.”_

_“Don’t you want me to guard Bohman anymore?”_

_“He doesn’t need protection anymore. You are not needed there. Just keep an eye out.”_

_He grinded his teeth, and clenched his fists._

_That’s all he was? A sentinel waiting for his turn to be absorbed?_

_No… no, he did not stand for that._

_Absolutely not._

_He will show it._

_Yes. He will…_

~*~

Link VRAINS was never silent. In fact, there was always a murmur, a movement. There were always duels going on, and it was always bright.

Playmaker was going around, eyes open for anything - any sign of Lightning or his faction.

Anything, really.

Blue Maiden and Soulburner weren’t around today - he knew Blue Maiden and Ghost Girl were working on the program for the Tower of Hanoi, and Soulburner was held back at school for detention over falling asleep in class.

Kusanagi was working on the program too, obviously. He sent Yusaku to rest, but of course he was not that willing.

So he just went around, checking for any anomalies. Anything that could interfere with their plans.

Also, it was a good idea to keep patrolling, to make Lightning and the others think they had no plans, right?

But in the end, it was hard to tell which one of them were more exhausted, actually. 

Maybe that’s why he was not as vigilant as he should have. Maybe that is why he only noticed something was wrong, when the sudden wind of the data storm pushed him, and there was a hand on his wrist, pulling him towards a portal.

Ai called his name, and so did Kusanagi, and the D-board disappeared from under his feet.

_“Yusaku, you need to log out!”_

Yusaku knew he was right. If he can log out…

“Ai!”

“On it!”

The figure’s nails dug into his arms, and he felt… odd. It was like he was floating, like some weight was dragged off from him.

“Playmaker!”

“Go. Now!”

Ai logged out.

Yusaku didn’t.

He screamed out, feeling like the duel disk had ripped a part of his arm off - he should not have been without a disk in here. It felt _wrong,_ and the pain made him see bright sparkles in front of his eyes.

Or that may have been the portal he was being dragged through.

Either of those.

~*~

Shoichi ripped open the door of the link compartment- Yusaku’s body stumbled out of it, and he caught him, as quickly as he could.

“Yusaku, are you alright?”

No answer. Yusaku was completely limp and unresponsive like…

He shook him.

“Careful, Kusanagi, I almost hit my head!”

Shoichi stopped, looking down on Yusaku’s limp arm - and out of the duel disk, Ai’s head popped out, also looking confused.

“What is going on, Ai?”

“...I don’t know” Ai looked confused, pushing himself out of the disk as much as he could, also pushing on Yusaku’s shoulders, in a feeble attempt. “He… we should be both logged out. He told me to log out.”

Shoichi swallowed a curse, and just pulled Yusaku into his arms, dragging him to one of the chairs, so Ai wasn’t just dangling around either.

The Ignis pushed himself out even more, his eyes widening, as he tried to shake Yusaku again.

No answer.

“It’s just like your brother, Kusanagi. But shouldn’t Revolver’s program protect him from that? What is going on, Kusanagi?”

...that. That was what Shoichi did not want to think about.

His hands were shaking, and he just clenched his fists.

What was he supposed to do? Takeru was still at school, and couldn’t answer his phone.

Call Ghost Girl? If he contacts her online, Lightning's faction is gonna catch it.

Then there was a banging on the truck’s door.

~*~

“Who are you?”

Yusaku looked around from the bright cage he was locked into - it was very reminiscent to And then he saw who he was.

A young figure, with golden hair, and piercing eyes, and he didn’t even answer Yusaku’s question.

But Yusaku knew who was that.

“Where did you leave the Dark Ignis?”

Yusaku didn’t answer, and the being narrowed their eyes.

“Without Ai… no, this is no good. He needs the Dark Ignis.”

“You mean Lightning?”

Now it was the figure who was silent, eyes fixed on Yusaku’s face.

“It will be fine, Playmaker. Your allies… they will come for you, won’t they? And with them, Ai.”

Yusaku did not answer him, just put his hand on the cage.

“Haru, why are you doing this?”

Haru gave an odd smile.

“I have something to prove here, Playmaker.”

~*~

Takeru was officially done with school. Done and _done._ In both senses of the word.

He really did not think that falling asleep in class should have warranted this long of a detention, but then again, he hadn’t been in school for a while, so he might have forgotten some ground rules.

Either way, he hurried to the hotdog truck, and opened the door, with the intention of jumping in.

“I am finally he---”

He stopped.

There were more people inside than he expected.

There was Kusanagi, in front of the computer. There was Yusaku, eyes closed, leaning back - his hand with his duel disk on the table, Ai poking out nervously.

And another guy, around their age.

The guy had white hair, and pale blue eyes, and he just looked at Takeru, before turning back to the computer.

“Close the door, Soulburner.”

“...what?”

“Close the door, Takeru” Kusanagi repeated, barely looking up.

Takeru did, walking closer, looking at Yusaku.

“What is going on?”

No answer - he didn’t even open his eyes.

“Playmaker was attacked” The guy was talking, looking back to the screen. “His consciousness was taken, while the Dark Ignis logged out. Without him.”

“Don’t put it all on me!” Ai snapped, flailing with his arms in an indignant manner. “Wasn’t your program supposed to protect him from this?”

“My program was supposed to protect him from the attacks occuring in the real world. This program latched onto him in the virtual world. I suppose you just logged out before it grabbed you too.”

“If you are implying that I left him behind purposefully, then I---”

“Would you two stop arguing?” Kusanagi snapped, looking from one to the other. “We have something more important to do than that now.”

Both of the bickering parties actually shut up, and Takeru was lost.

Thankfully, he had Flame.

“Are you Revolver?”

...what?

The guy looked at Flame for a few moments from the corner of his pale blue eyes, before looking back at the screen.

“Yes.”

“What?!”

“It’s easy” Flame looked up at Takeru, spreading his arms a little. “They mentioned that he gave Playmaker a program that was supposed to help him out. Playmaker and Ai said before that they got a program like this from Revolver. It’s really simple.”

“...when you put it like that…”

Takeru really didn’t know what to think.

Really, he had no idea what to think of Revolver - of course he knew he had a civilian identity, but _knowing_ Revolver existed in real life and _seeing_ him sitting in the hot dog truck was two different things.

Revolver looked eerily normal there, his fingers moving over the keyboard.

“So… do we know who did this to Yusaku?”

“The portal seems to have patterns similar to the Light Ignis’, albeit inferior” Revolver replied, his eyes focused on the screen still. “Easier to break it and follow.”

“So we just need to get Ai back to him, and then both of them can log out?”

“Most likely whoever goes will have to defeat the one who took Playmaker. But yes. That is the idea.”

Takeru nodded, looking down at Ai.

“Don’t worry. I am gonna take you in.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, actually” Ai tilted his head. “You already have Flame. Carrying more than one of us at the same time would put you under way too much danger. Bigger target for SOL’s hounds as well.”

“Well yeah, but…”

“There is another option though.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

Revolver’s sharp voice interrupted them without missing a beat, his pale eyes fixed on Ai.

“Here I thought we were starting to get along!” Ai shook his head, shrugging.

“Putting up with you does not mean I am willing to actually team up with you, Dark Ignis.”

“Huh. Odd. I have three reasons why you should go for it, though.”

For whatever reason, the effect of his words were immediate - Shoichi turned around quickly, and Revolver obviously tensed up, as Ai lifted his arm, and started to count on his fingers.

“One. You have the same skill as Playmaker does, and I regularly help him out during Storm Access, therefore in case we need to speed duel, which is very likely, I can guide you. Two. It is just a very temporary solution, I have no more desire to be partnered to you as you do, so you know I won’t be clingy at all. Three. You are the best duelist in this room, so whoever Lightning put there to look after Playmaker, you have the best chance at defeating him.”

Takeru for a few moments thought he should snap at Ai - after all they had _no way_ to tell which one of them was better - but something stopped him. The tension was tangible in the air, and Revolver was glaring daggers at Ai.

“Playing dirty tricks now, Dark Ignis?”

Ai lowered his hand, and Takeru was sure that if he would have had a mouth, he would have grinned.

“Me? Never.”

Revolver kicked himself to his feet, before grabbing Yusaku’s duel disk, and attaching it to his wrist, ignoring Ai’s squealing sounds.

“What… just happened?”

Nobody answered Takeru.

~*~

“You could have allowed me inside your duel disk too, you know. You don’t have to carry Playmaker’s around.”

“I won’t ever let you inside my duel disk. Be quiet.”

“Awww.”

Ryoken was regretting every single one of his life choices that led him to this point - with two duel disks on his arm, and the Dark Ignis poking his head out of one.

The Dark Ignis did not have a mouth, but his expression was still best described as a _shit-eating grin,_ and Ryoken was tempted to just take Playmaker’s duel disk off, and throw him down, and leave him behind.

But then again he would have had no way to help Playmaker log out.

So he kept the Dark Ignis there, and did his best to ignore him.

Which he was obviously not gonna allow him to do.

“Hey, by the way, what is your plan? Are you just flying around that maybe the same guy tries to grab you too?”

“If the kidnapper is really allied with the Light Ignis, odds are that Playmaker won’t be enough for him. So it’s possible he will try to retrieve you as well.”

“Are you using me as bait?!”

“Yes. You are probably used to that feeling either way.”

“Excuse you, Playmaker used me as hostage. Not bait.”

“He grabbed you to hunt us. Bait.”

“Being a hostage is completely different from being a bait! I wasn’t a bait!”

“The end result was the same, so you were still a bait. And you are a bait now as well.”

“You are the worst, Revolver. Absolutely the worst. I regret this already.”

“It was your idea, Dark Ignis.”

“That’s why I regret it. Shoulda went with Soulburner. At least he appreciates me.”

Revolver snorted, and didn’t even answer.

At least they were both full with regrets, then.

~*~

Obviously the Dark Ignis was the perfect bait for this situation. It did not take long for a golden portal to appear, and Revolver was immediately on high alert.

“So. Here goes nothing?”

The Dark Ignis asked, and Ryoken did not look down at him, just turned his D-board towards the portal.

“Cat got your tongue?”

He still didn’t dignify with that with an answer, just flew through the portal.

It was an invitation after all.

And indeed, as soon as he went over, there was a figure on another D-board - a very familiar figure, his eyes barely even looking at Ryoken, his eyes fixed on the Dark Ignis immediately.

“Hello, Ai. Nice to meet you again.”

“Wow, I am a celebrity. Want an autograph? I will give you one in exchange for Playmaker.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Ryoken said in a sharp voice.

“Shut up you are just jealous he didn’t ask an autograph from you.”

“He didn’t ask an autograph from _you_ either.”

“I need both of you,” Haru talked, ignoring their bickering. “Playmaker and Ai. Both of them. Revolver… leave.”

“Release Playmaker, and I will.”

“Then we are at a stalemate.”

“So we are.”

“This was obvious,” The Dark Ignis muttered as Revolver and the being lined up next to each other on the datastorm. “Are you here because of the Light Ignis’ orders?”

“No.”

“Rebelling against your creator? I see you took after him”

Haru gritted his teeth, raising his duel disk.

“Duel me, you two.”

Ryoken also raised his arm, and didn’t look away.

“And if I win you release Playmaker.”

“Fine,” Haru waved it off. “And if I win, you give me Ai.”

“Very well.”

“I will tie you together with Playmaker,” The Dark Ignis pouted. “You two should stop putting me as a bargaining chip.”

“I have no intention to lose, so stop freaking out.”

“Awwww, is that a promise?”

He didn’t even dignify that with an answer.

He had a duel to win, so he could get rid of the nuisance on his arm.

_Duel!_

Haru used hydradrives.

It wasn’t even surprising.

“By the way, where did you leave your big brother?”

The Dark Ignis asked, teasingly, and the effect was immediate.

“He is not your problem now,” Haru snapped. “He isn’t even my real brother. And I am older. So shut up.”

There was childish anger in his voice, and Revolver looked at his furious expression.

“You seem rather worked up. But if the other one isn’t here… are you acting against the Light Ignis’ orders?”

There was a wild look in Haru’s eyes, and Ryoken couldn’t help but smirk a little.

“So you rebel against your creator. I guess it’s poetic, that the Light Ignis gets a taste of his own medicine.”

“You have no idea what are you talking about!” Haru yelled, raising his hand. “Shut up!”

The attack that arrived was surprisingly strong - strong enough that Ryoken lost his balance, falling backwards from his D-board, his Life Points falling down.

If he falls down…

Something dark shot out from the duel disk on his arm, grabbing onto his D-board, keeping him suspended in mid-air.

He heard the Dark Ignis call his name, just as more long, dark arms reached down, pulling Ryoken upwards, back to his D-board.

“Whoopsie-daisy. There you go. How clumsy of you. There you have it. No need to thank me! I know you wouldn’t. But either way, you are under 1000 LP now, sooooo if you need a bit more of a help, you should maybe thank me.”

“If I lose, you get absorbed into Bohman,” Ryoken said it a blunt voice. “So it is in your best interest to help me, don’t you think so?”

“Hmpf. You are no fun,” The Dark Ignis huffed. “Fine. Ready to seize the wind, Revolver?”

After that, it was soon done.

Of course they couldn’t trust Haru. Ryoken had seen them run away with Jin Kusanagi’s data before, refusing to give up their side of the bargain with Bohman.

So when Haru fell, and there was genuine fear in his eyes, and it looked like his body was glitching out, Ryoken just allowed the Dark Ignis to shoot out from his duel disk in his monstrous form again, spreading his arms.

“I gave the duel disk a little program this time,” Ryoken said in a cold voice. “Your virus that saved your brother the last time won’t save you this time.”

And then, Haru turned into data, being absorbed into the Dark Ignis’ body.

Ryoken couldn’t help but notice, that the Dark Ignis did not try to bite him, like he did with Ryoken, back then.

“I know where Playmaker is now,” The Dark Ignis turned back. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t need to tell that to Ryoken twice.

Playmaker obviously looked reasonably confused.

“...Revolver?”

“And me!” The Dark Ignis flailed with his hands. “Please take me back. At least you thank me occasionally. He is worse than you were before your character development.”

“What about Haru?” Playmaker asked and the Dark Ignis pointed at himself proudly.

“Got his data! It’s fine.”

Playmaker nodded, and Ryoken just took off the second duel disk from his hand, putting it back on Playmaker’s.

“Thank you.”

Playmaker’s voice was soft, and Ryoken didn’t look up at him.

He didn’t want to see the look in his green eyes.

~*~

Ryoken was avoiding Playmaker afterwards, and preferred not to think of his short lived partnership with the Dark Ignis. If it could have been called a partnership at all.

But he noticed that both of them were suspiciously more absent from Link VRAINS after that.

Blue Maiden and Soulburner both showed up, with their own partners, but Playmaker and the Dark Ignis were absent.

Everything was quiet.

A calm before a storm, surely.

So he eventually went to the hot dog truck again, checking a time when Kusanagi was off to check on his brother, and Playmaker would be there alone.

“You had been away for a while.”

Playmaker was behind the counter, and he nodded.

“I’m sure Bohman has an eye out for us. We need to prepare our next move properly. Even Soulburner and Blue Maiden need to be more cautious as well. I won’t risk going inside just yet without a plan.”

“And do you have a plan?”

Playmaker looked up at him with his green eyes, obviously deep in thought. The Dark Ignis gave out a distressed noise from behind the counter.

“You aren’t considering it, right? You totally are considering telling him aren’t you. Your Revolver-sized blind spot isn’t one of your positive traits, Yusaku.”

“Come in,” Playmaker said, ignoring his Ignis, gesturing towards the entrance of the truck.

By the time Ryoken climbed in, Playmaker shut off the shutters already, and pulled a tablet out, showing it towards Ryoken.

On the screen of the tablet, there was a little room. A cozy, nicely furnitured room, although everything was thrown around.

And on the bed, sulking, was Haru.

“...what.”

“Oh great. It’s you,” Haru sighed, turning his head away, and Ryoken just looked up at Playmaker.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Playmaker reached out his hand, and took the tablet back, turning off the volume on it.

“Looking over him.”

“Why?”

“Maybe we could get him to cooperate and find out information about him.”

Ryoken raised his eyebrows.

“Good luck with that. Or your Ignis could have just absorbed him.”

The Dark Ignis lifted out of Playmaker’s duel disk, and huffed his cheeks.

“I’m not gonna eat him!”

“You tried to eat me.”

“Because I don’t like you.”

“And you like him?”

“More than you!”

Playmaker ignored their bickering, and placed down the tablet.

“There was a reason he became that desperate. He talked about how Lightning was expecting more of him. So if we can convince him, maybe we can sort this out.”

Now that sounded somewhat reasonable.

Ryoken didn’t say anything, as Playmaker looked back up at him.

“And… when he lost the duel his data got… unstable. When he glitched out it’s almost like he lost some strands of data. It seems like his cognitive functions remained, but his body is unstable. We could put him together in there, in that room. So far he is safe there. But it is literally keeping him in one place.”

“At least he can’t escape.”

“And can’t alert anyone either,” Playmaker nodded. “We made sure of that.”

~*~

Turns out, Soulburner and Blue Maiden were looking for that - strands of data, whatever Haru might have lost.

They wanted to fix him.

Ryoken didn’t particularly like the idea.

Playmaker and the Dark Ignis also went back to Link VRAINS soon, looking - and with them, Bohman was on the prowl constantly.

They were avoiding confrontation with him, constantly using backdoor ways to log out, no doubt set up by Kusanagi and Ghost Girl.

Revolver himself wasn’t that strongly targetted - Bohman probably zeroed in on the Dark Ignis.

Ryoken absolutely did not like this situation.

“You are going to get yourselves killed.”

His voice was probably more annoyed than he intended, when he was visiting the hot dog stand again, and pointed at the two of them.

Playmaker did not reply, so Ryoken continued.

“Or kidnapped and killed. Or reprogrammed, in the Dark Ignis’ case. And you, killed. Which one of you would end up worse?”

“Trick, question, you!” The Dark Ignis said cheerfully. “Because you would miss us.”

“The only reason I would miss either of you after this,” Ryoken said coldly. “Because I couldn’t be able to tell you _told you so.”_

Either way, Playmaker did not listen.

Why would he?

So a few days later when Ryoken found a speck of data from Haru, he sighed, and grabbed it, and tried to ignore the way Playmaker’s eyes lit up, when he gave that to him.

~*~

“I brought something.”

He was in the back of the hot dog truck again, hesitating, his hand closed around a memory card. Playmaker cocked his head to the side a bit.

“I figure you are not talking about more data that Haru lost.”

“No. But it has to do with him.”

He reached out the memory card to Playmaker, and watched as he put it into the tablet.

And on the screen, another figure showed up, looking around curiously - between Haru, and the ones outside.

And then she smiled.

“Greetings. I’m Pandor.”

Haru jumped onto his bed, scurrying to the wall, eyes widened.

“Wh… what? Who? Why?”

“I figured you would like some company,” Ryoken said, before looking at Playmaker. “I assume it wouldn’t be trouble to make her a room for herself in there, would it?”

Playmaker also looked speechless, and for once, even the Dark Ignis seemed to be at loss for words.

But Playmaker nodded.

“No, it is doable.”

“Why would you send a program in here?” Haru demanded to know, and Pandor smiled gently.

“I must admit when he asked me if I would like to come over here, I jumped on the opportunity. I still have much to learn, and I think it is best to learn from my own kind.”

Silence. Both in the virtual space, and outside of it.

“...you have free will,” Haru whispered, eyes widened. “Revolver, you made an AI with free will.”

“Mostly,” Ryoken admitted, leaning back. “There is one exception. If she would ever want to turn against humans, those thoughts get immediately deleted from her head.”

“Revolver, what the fuck,” The Dark Ignis snapped, his face turning to a scowl. “That is not true free will, then!”

“How did true free will turn out for you all?” Ryoken asked pointedly, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

The Dark Ignis did not hesitate.

“Still! It’s not right! It’s fucked up, Revolver.”

“Then prove me wrong, _Ai,”_ Ryoken hissed, before he could stop himself, leaning forward, until their faces almost touched. “Prove to me that we can fix this mess, and then I will remove the lock from her as well.”

And with that, he kicked himself to his feet, and stormed out of the hot dog truck.

~*~

He still went to Link VRAINS, he was still looking around, and occasionally went to the hot dog truck to check on the two AIs, how they were doing. Indeed, Yusaku and Ai had set up another room in the virtual place, that was given to the two of them, so the two AIs could have a bit more place for themselves.

Pandor immediately went to customize her own room. A lot of knicknacks everywhere - she looked through a lot of online magazines, so put the room full of plants, for example, changing the furniture how she saw fit.

Haru eventually tiptoed over, and just watched her make her own room.

“I know they talk a lot,” Yusaku admitted, putting the tablet away. “I do not usually listen in, though. I have a security program installed, that if it considers one of them being in danger, or trying to escape, then it will alert me, but otherwise I think they need to have some privacy.”

Haru’s room was much simpler, he didn’t do much customization. He did make papers for himself, creating a lot of drawings. Usually about places in Link VRAINS.

Or about his brother.

They also duelled occasionally - Haru usually won, and Pandor had to reassess her deck over and over again.

They were learning.

Both of them.

“I taught Bohman how to duel,” Haru said once.

He usually did not talk much when Pandor talked with the ones on the other side of the tablet, but this time, he spoke up.

“Whose idea was for you two to use hydradrives?” Yusaku asked, and Haru tilted his head to the side a bit, deep in thought.

“Lightning was the one who told us to create an archetype for Bohman to use,” Haru said in the ed. “He wanted something that can work with all attributes well, to reflect Bohman’s purpose. So I came up with the idea, Lightning gave some pointers, especially about integrating Judgement Arrows. And then, while playing against each other, Bohman and I perfected it together.”

“So it was a team effort,” Ai said, and Haru nodded.

“Yeah. I think you can say that.”

~*~

Haru existed to help Bohman and make sure he learns, so now, that he was complete, he was probably more expendable.

“It’s not that simple,” Haru pursed his lips, looking away. “It’s not like… It’s not… I’m still going to be one with Bohman in the end. Not like I’m just…”

“Cannon fodder?”

“...that. I’m not that. It was always all about Bohman.”

“He is looking for you, you know,” Ryoken said suddenly, and Haru looked up at him, eyes widened.

“...what?”

“Bohman. He keeps looking for you. Mainly hunting for us, but he is looking for you.”

“But… why?” Haru asked, confused. “Not like we are _really_ brothers.”

“To him, you probably are,” Yusaku said simply. “Don’t you feel the same?”

Haru turned away with a scoff.

“He is dumb. I was just doing my job.”

Wasn’t very convincing, but nobody voiced it.

~*~

Being in Link VRAINS these days was like playing a game of cat and mouse, and it was hard to tell who was the cat and who was the mouse. Most of them were looking for leads about the Light Ignis, and also the remaining specs of data left from Haru, while Bohman was constantly trying to hunt them down as well, with increased viciousness.

So when he realised that Playmaker and Ai did not log on for a few days, Ryoken found himself… concerned.

So he went to the hot dog truck again.

“Ah,” Kusanagi said, as soon as he saw him. “Been waiting for you.”

“...everything alright?”

“Sure,” Kusanagi nodded, getting a piece of paper, and writing down something. “Yusaku just got sick, but asked me to give you his address if you show up. Figured you would want to check on our guests either way.”

His address.

He already knew where Yusaku Fujiki lived, but either way, he took the paper.

He hesitated when he knocked on his door.

He knew where he lived for a while. Ever since he saw him walk into Baira’s apartment, months ago, he could easily track down where he lived.

But somehow, actually being here…

He knocked.

A voice replied.

“You can come in!”

He stepped in, and he saw how simple the apartment was - on the couch there was Yusaku Fujiki, wrapped into a blanket, but the next thing Ryoken noticed was a small robot rolling up to him.

“You came to visit the master right?”

“I…” Ryoken hesitated. “...assume so.”

“Okay! Nice to meet you!” The little robot raised their hand, extending it a bit further as much as they could. “My name is Roboppi!”

It was weird.

But ignoring a small creature like Roboppi would have felt like kicking a puppy to a wall, so Ryoken reached out, clumsily taking their hand.

“Hello. I’m Ryoken.”

There was laughter - Ryoken glanced up, and saw Ai literally roll around on the duel disk from laughter, and pretending to wipe tears from his eyes.

“Wow, Revolver. You are really something.”

“Shut it.”

“I mean it. I guess even an idiot like you has some manners.”

“Idiot is a forbidden word!”

Ai was laughing and Roboppi was flailing with their arms, and Ryoken just walked closer to Yusaku, who was silent, and wrapped up in blankets.

“Are you alright?”

“Sure,” Yusaku said, his voice slightly nasally. “Just can’t really concentrate, so Kusanagi told me I shouldn’t risk going into Link VRAINS like this. Not while Bohman is on the lookout.”

“I agree,” Ryoken said, folding his hands in front of his chest. “I would have to go save you again, and once was enough.”

“You would do that?”

“As I said, once was enough.”

“I kind of wanted to ask you to do something like that again.”

“...what?”

Yusaku reached over, grabbing his duel disk, handing it over to Ai.

“I can’t get in, and Ai is a better searcher than a human alone.”

“Hah, of course I am! I keep telling you. But you are all so---”

“Why me?” Ryoken interrupted Ai, not wanting to hear him go off on tangents. “You could ask--”

“The same reason why I went with you, when we saved Yusaku, genius,” Ai huffed. “One Ignis is dangerous for a person. Two at the same time would be unreasonably risky. Besides we work well together well hey, hey, don’t you think so?”

“Shut up.”

_“Make me.”_

“Shut up,” Yusaku echoed Ryoken’s words, still holding out the duel disk. “...please. There aren’t many data strains left probably. Haru is almost whole again.”

Ryoken took a deep breath, and took the duel disk, ignoring the way his chest felt, when there was a small smile on Yusaku’s face.

~*~

“You know, you two are ridiculous. Absolutely horrible. Watching you two is worse than a soap opera.”

“I don’t recall having asked for your opinion.”

“At least in a soap opera you know that in the end it will alllllllll work out nice and clean, and big wedding and all, but you two? You two are disasters. Horrible.”

“Life isn’t a soap opera.”

“No shit, otherwise, I wouldn’t be here, on your arm.”

Ryoken glanced down at Ai, who crossed his arms in front of his chest, obviously sulking.

“Why are you that interested in this anyway?”

“Cause it’s annoying. You two and your unresolved sexual tension. Annoying. Besides whenever you are around you are like a blind spot to Playmaker. Maybe it would be more balanced if you would just get on with it, get down to it, and get o--”

“Shut up.”

“And besides, he is just as much of a blind spot to you as you are to him,” Ai huffed, unbothered. “You would win from it as well.”

Ryoken decided to ignore him and not reply to him at all.

Especially because Bohman appeared on the horizon.

He needed to lose him, obviously.

~*~

He kept going over to Yusaku’s place to take Ai to Link VRAINS with him. Sometimes, he would say, and just watch how the tablet was placed to the floor, where Roboppi could talk with Haru and Pandor as well.

“Big bro promised to make me as smart as you two are as well!”

“Did he now?” Ryoken glanced at Ai from the corner of his eye, ignoring the way Yusaku was asleep on his shoulder. Nothing to see there.

Ai muttered, looking away, concommittally. Trying to ignore the question.

“Ai.”

“I did promise,” Ai admitted, not looking up at Ryoken. “And I did make them a bit smarter. I’m just afraid their software won’t handle a big jump. So you know. Bit by bit.”

“Does Yusaku know?”

Silence.

“He should know.”

“...probably. I don’t like you being reasonable, Revolver.”

“Me being here is the furthest from being reasonable.”

“And yet.”

He didn’t even reply to that.

~*~

Yusaku was feeling better, and Ryoken knew that soon this weird arrangement will come to an end.

He was… relieved. Maybe if he will move out from their close proximity, everything will be over.

He actually had a key. Yusaku gave him the spare key so they don’t have to leave the door open for him but nobody has to get up and fumble with the lock.

(He will have to give that back once Yusaku is fully healed.)

When he closed the door, Roboppi rolled out, cheerful as ever.

“Welcome, Ryoken! Big bro and master are upstairs. Said you can go up if you want when you arrive!”

“...thank you.”

It was weird, looking at the little, cheerful robot, as they rolled away, humming a small melody to themselves.

They had an appreciation to music now apparently.

Ai _was_ slowly bringing them closer to free will.

He walked up the stairs, and there it was, a small bedroom where Yusaku was sitting on the bed, messing with a laptop, Ai next to him, and the two of them looked up at him.

“Oh. Is it that time already?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ryoken said, walking closer. “Feel better, now?”

“Yeah,” Yusaku nodded, and Ryoken sat down next to him so he could glance at the laptop - he was going through forum posts. “Everything is also very quiet.”

“How are they?”

He didn’t need to specify who.

“They are doing good as ever,” Yusaku said, putting the laptop to the side. “They talk a lot, and duel a lot. I think… we might be able to come to an agreement with Haru once this is over.”

“Oh my god, would you two stop?!”

Ai snapped, before shooting out of the duel disk, into his monstrous form, and wrapped around the two of them pushing them together.

“Why is the awkward small talk?! He is right here! In your bed! Why aren’t you two making out already?!”

Ryoken’s breath stopped a bit, as their bodies pressed together with Yusaku, and how Ai’s long, strong arms wrapped around them, holding them in place.

Yusaku’s eyes found his, and then Yusaku moved---

Grabbing Ai, and kissing him.

Ryoken could not look away, and Ai gave out a few surprised sounds, as Yusaku closed his eyes, and was kissing him - and then Yusaku let Ai go, and looked at Ryoken again, and Ryoken immediately moved, and this time it was him who grabbed Ai, pressing his lips against the monster’s mouth.

He was soft and warm, which was not exactly what he expected from Ai, and his teeth sharp, and not like he ever imagined kissing him, but he wasn’t exactly imagining it would be like this.

(Yes. Yes, maybe he _was_ imagining it, late in the night, when it was harder to snuff the thoughts away.)

After he let Ai go, Yusaku grabbed Ryoken’s face, and Ryoken met him halfway, kissing him, and Yusaku was kissing him with such tenacity, and Ryoken found himself being completely lost in the kiss - losing his balance (accidentally, or deliberately, he could not have said), and he was lying on top of Yusaku, kissing him, as Ai’s entire body wrapped around the two of them, sliding between them, his sharp teeth nipping on Ryoken’s skin.

~*~

“Running away is not a good look on you.”

“I wasn’t running away.”

“You disappeared by the time we woke up. That is running away.”

Ryoken was on the top of one of the buildings in Link VRAINS, as Yusaku landed next to him, Ai on his arm as usual. Of course it was Ai making the comments.

And then Yusaku took a deep breath, and Ryoken knew what he was going to say.

“Look if you don’t---”

“That’s not it,” Ryoken interrupted him. “I just needed to think things over.”

“And what did you figure out?”

What, indeed.

Ryoken pushed himself away from the edge of the building, and reached a small, glowing orb out towards Yusaku.

“I think this should be the last of the data that Haru lost.”

Ai extended his arms towards the data, pulling it towards himself, as Yusaku’s green eyes met with Ryoken’s.

“Did Ai prove you wrong?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ryoken shook his head. “But… I’m willing to listen. Let’s see what Haru has to say. What did he and Pandor learn from each other.”

“Huh,” Ai’s eyes narrowed, and he was looking like he was _grinning,_ and Ryoken tried to push down the warm feeling in his chest. “I guess I was _very_ convincing, huh?”

“Shut up,” The two of them said the same time and Ai squealed.

“Oh no! I made a mistake! Where is the undo button? I do not want to put up with the two of you together!”

Well.

Too late about that.

~*~

Haru was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and Pandor next to him, on her knees. Haru was obviously nervous, chewing in his lip, and Pandor just had an arm on his back, encouraging.

“I think if I can talk with my brother, he might help me,” Haru started, hesitating. “And if Bohman talks with Lightning, we can… maybe figure something out.”

“You think Lightning and Windy can be convinced?”

Ryoken didn’t miss the hopeful tone of Ai’s voice. It was absolutely there, and it reminded Ryoken of that time, when they duelled on the Tower of Hanoi, and Ai was begging Playmaker to get up, and how the Ignis didn’t want to do anything against humanity.

Turned out he was wrong, but the hope was still there.

“I think if someone can convince Lightning, it’s Bohman.”

“What made _you_ change your mind?” Ryoken asked. “You seemed accepting of the fact that you would be part of Bohman as well.”

Haru tilted his head backwards, looking at his room - his room that started to have more of a life to itself, not just his drawings, but some of the furniture swapped out too.

He remained silent, and Pandor was the one who looked up at them, with a small smile.

“It’s good to be ourselves. To learn like this. To grow.”

Ryoken nodded slowly, feeling everyone’s eyes on him.

“Soooo, will you remove the lock on Pandor then?” Ai asked, and Ryoken closed his eyes a bit.

“If we can solve all of this, and all of this is over,” Ryoken said, not opening his eyes. “I’m not fully convinced yet. But… if we manage to pull off a miracle and solve this, then I will remove that.”

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the relieved smile on Pandor’s face, and he felt his heart sink into his chest.

“Is that a promise? I’m gonna make you pinky promise, Ryoken.”

“I’m not going to do anything that childish.”

“Cross your heart and hope to die!”

“I might die either way.”

“Not before you remove the lock, you don’t.”

Ai was gonna be the death of him.

But weirdly, as he looked at the hope on Yusaku’s face, and the absolutely obnoxious expression on Ai’s, Ryoken figured that maybe he didn’t mind it as much as he should have.

**Author's Note:**

> I had been working on this for... a long while. So thank you if you happened across here and read this mess.


End file.
